Bilbao - February
2000
January 2000,
London. Grey, rainy, depressing. Ed & Jacqui had finally given into the
obvious and decided that they had to get the hell out of Dodge. Things were
getting just a tad to damn complicated back home. The trip to Dubai was booked
up, but March seemed a long way away. Cue Go! and their cheapo flights
to Bilbao. We wanted to get away for a weekend and do something cultural in
a foreign place. Frank Gehry's much talked-about new Guggenheim
museum seemed like a cool thing to do...but despite what the guidebooks say
(or actually despite what they DON'T say) there's a lot more there for the weekend
tourist.
The Subway
The
Bilbao subway system is very sleek, very cool, very safe and a lot like the
system in DC. I think Sir Richard Rodgers designed it. It would just have been
a bit better if the trains had run any more frequently than once every 30 minutes
after midnight. One not particularly impressed customer!
When
the train finally deigned to show up we managed to grab the Nerd Ltd speciality
shot - the moving-subway-train-with-staionary-person number.
The Guggenheim
Museum
We took over 200
pictures in the three days we spent in Bilbao and about 170 of them were of
the Guggenheim. It's an incredible building and well worth a trip to Bilbao
just to get a look at it. "The Art Of The Motorcycle" exhibition was
on whilst we were in town and despite neither of us being huge bike fans we
thoroughly enjoyed that too. The space inside wasn't as impressive as the outside,
but to be honest it was close. The museum itself is very cool inside and there
a loads of fun permanent exhibitions. Go there!!!!
Out
front Jeff Koon's scotty dog put in an appearance. For those who don't know,
the structure is covered with pansies. Sort of crap and impressive at the same
time.
Jacqui
caught this very slick view of different curves and angles that lead down to
the museum's entrance.
Looking
down into the entrance area itself.
Ed
balancing on a railing on the river side of the museum.
The
majestic canopy that looks out over the river in front of it.
Did
I say "majestic"? Hmm, must be worth another shot then.
The back of the
Guggenheim is easy enough to get to, you just have to walk all the way round
it. It also looks incredible. A shame then that not more people seemed bothered
enough to do it. We were the only ones there. Here are some great shots from
the back. The first one is particularly impressive:
Gehry
has wrapped most of the building in a wonderful titanium skin. The panels look
pretty small from a distance, but up close you can see how big the really are.
Jacqui is 5' 8" by the way.
When
he wasn't wrapping everything in sight in titanium, Mr Gehry was doing very
cool things with sandstone.
Jacqui
suddenly grew from 5' 8" to something a little bigger. The Guggenheim in
the background is dwarfed.
Around The Guggenheim
The
new Guggenheim museum is only part of an enormnous re-development of the Bilbao
riverside area. This weird bridge is another modern design highlight - although
best viewed from a distance. In the background you can clearly see the knackered
old warehouses that are being converted into offices and yuppie housing.
Just
a few yards down river Gehry erected a huge fake column that leans at an improbable
angle. It looks like it's made of solid sandstone from one side, but from the
back it's a different story.
Arty
shot of two footbridges connecting to the main bridge.
Plaza Nuevo
How
come there are no real guide books on Bilbao? Even the ones that mention the
place fail to pick out the cool things that happen. On a Sunday morning in the
Plaza Nuevo for instance, there's a really fun market selling everything from
porn videos, to old photographic prints of the city to an amazing array of caged
birds. Definitely worth a visit.
You
can always chill out with a drink and a lounge in the sun afterwards, but look
out for the geezers in the berets!
Huge
olives too. Not Ed's thing, but Jacqui assures me they were top draw.
Misc
At
the end of the street that our hotel was on Jacqui found this very cool older
(possibly 1930's) building. Flatiron, Bilbao style.
A
(brief) night on the town - bars close at midnight, don't believe the hype in
the guidebooks - and a couple of Double Hookers in the hotel bar it suddenly
seemed like a great idea to swap coats and take pictures sitting on the bidet.
Wednesday, May 3, 2000 1:54 PM
